The European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs, 2003

Purpose of the project

The main purpose of the ESPAD project is to collect comparable data on alcohol, tobacco and drug use among 15-16 year old students in as many European countries as possible. The studies were conducted as school surveys by researchers in each participating country, during the same period of time and with common methodology.

Participating countries included Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia (Moscow only), Slovenia, Slovak Republic, and United Kingdom.

It was recommended that each country, with some minor exceptions, should draw a sample of about 2,800 students as a minimum, regardless of the size of the country. The data collection in each country was planned to take place during a certain week, which should not be preceded by any holiday, ensuring that the students referred to a "normal" week when answering the questions.

Data was collected by group-administered questionnaires, under the supervision of a teacher or a research assistant. The anonymous character of the study was stressed.

Alcohol use

Lifetime

In two thirds of ESPAD countries, 90% or more of 15-16 year old students have drunk an alcoholic beverage at least once in their lifetime. The highest figures were found in the Czech Republic, Lithuania (98% each), the Slovak Republic (97%), Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Greece, the Isle of Man and Latvia (96% each).
More frequent drinking is revealed in the proportion of young people who have drunk alcohol 40 times or more in their lifetime. The countries that reported the highest percentage use of alcohol 40 times or more are similar to those that reported the highest prevalence rates, including Denmark (50%), Austria (48%), the Czech Republic (46%), the Isle of Man, the Netherlands (45% each) and the United Kingdom (43%). In almost all countries, more boys than girls reported this behaviour. However, in a few countries, including the Isle of Man, Finland and Norway, the gender distribution was about equal. No country reported a majority of girls with this behaviour.

Last 12 months

Many students had consumed an alcoholic beverage during the previous 12 months. The largest proportions of students drinking 20 times or more in the last 12 months were found in Denmark, Austria (41-42%), the Netherlands (37%), Ireland (35%), the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom (34%).

Last 30 days

Overall, about two thirds of the students had an alcoholic beverage in the previous 30 days.
Countries with 30 day prevalence rates over 70% included Germany (78%), the Czech Republic, Lithuania (77% each), Greece, Malta and Switzerland (75% each).
In some countries, students reported drinking alcohol 10 times or more during the past 30 days. Those countries with the highest percentages included the Netherlands (25%), Austria (21%), Belgium, Malta (20%) and the United Kingdom (17%).

Beer

About half of the students had drunk beer during the previous 30 days.
Boys were more likely to drink beer in almost all countries. The exceptions to this were found in Greenland and Iceland, where there were almost as many girls as boys reporting beer consumption three times or more during the past 30 days.

Wine

In the ESPAD age group (15-16 year olds), wine consumption was not as frequent as the consumption of beer. However, the 30 day prevalence rates varied widely between countries. The highest figures were found in Malta, where over two thirds of the students had consumed wine (68%). Other countries where more than half of the students had consumed wine during this period included Austria, the Czech Republic (53% each) and Lithuania (52%). The smallest proportions were reported in Turkey (10%) and Portugal (15%).
The proportion of students who reported wine consumption three times or more during the previous 30 days was highest in Malta, where 35% indicated this. Other countries with high percentages included Austria, Italy (23%), the Czech Republic, Greece and Slovenia (21% each).
Countries with the lowest figures included Finland, Iceland (5% each), Turkey (4%) and Norway (3%). Other northern European countries with low prevalence rates (<9%) included Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Poland and Sweden, but also such "wine countries" as France and Portugal.
Boys were more likely to drink wine in about one third of the countries, and in a similar number of countries, equal or close to equal gender distributions were found. However, in some countries, more girls than boys had drunk wine three times or more in the previous 30 days. These included the Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Spirits

In the majority of ESPAD countries, less than half of the students reported having drunk spirits during the previous 30 days.
Countries with the highest figures for spirit consumption three times or more during the previous 30 days included Malta (43%), the United Kingdom (39%), Ireland, the Isle of Man (38% each), the Faroe Islands and Greece (37% each). The lowest levels of spirit consumption were reported in Turkey (5%), Romania (7%), Finland (10%) and Latvia (12%).
In about half of the countries, more boys than girls reported drinking spirits three times or more in the previous 30 days, and in a similar number of countries, there was no difference between the genders. Three countries - Ireland, the Isle of Man and the United Kingdom - reported a higher number of girls than boys drinking spirits in this way.

Last drinking occasion

Beer

Approximately half (49%) of the students had drunk beer on the last drinking occasion. The highest percentages that reported this were found in Poland, Romania (69% each), Denmark (65%), Lithuania (61%) and the Czech Republic (60%).
Beer is the most common beverage in 24 of the ESPAD countries.

Cider (not available in all ESPAD countries)

Rather fewer students reported consumption of cider on the last drinking occasion. The highest figures were from Romania (42%), Finland (38%), Sweden (35%), Estonia (34%) and Norway (32%).
In only one country, Finland, more girls than boys had been drinking cider on the last drinking occasion.

Alcopops (not available in all ESPAD countries)

The highest proportions of alcopop consumers on the last drinking occasion were found in Cyprus, the Isle of Man (62% each), Denmark (61%), the Netherlands (52%), the United Kingdom (50%), Greece (49%), Belgium (48%), Greenland (46%) and Norway (43%).
In the majority of countries, more girls than boys had alcopops on their last drinking occasion, while the opposite was found in Cyprus, Greenland and Romania. Similar proportions of girls and boys drank alcopops in Greece, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Sweden.

Wine

Wine is not the most preferred alcoholic beverage among 15-16 year old students in Europe. Overall, one third (33%) had been drinking wine on the last drinking occasion. However, the proportions varied widely between countries. The highest figures were reported in Malta (61%) and the lowest from the Faroe Islands (13%), Greenland and Iceland (15% each).
Countries that reported the highest percentages of students drinking 15cl of wine or more the last time they had any alcohol included Slovenia (39%), Malta (36%) and the Czech Republic (35%). In just less than half of the countries, more boys than girls reported drinking 15cl of wine or more the last time they had any alcohol. Countries where there was little difference between boys and girls were also those with low prevalence rates. These included Belgium, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, the Netherlands and Norway.

Spirits

Overall, less than half (42%) of the students drank spirits on the last drinking occasion. In eight countries, over half of the students had been drinking spirits the last time they had an alcoholic drink. These included Malta (67%), the Faroe Islands (62%), Denmark, Greenland (61% each), Greece (58%), the Czech Republic (55%), Estonia (54%) and Ireland (50%).

Drunkenness

In 30 of the 35 ESPAD countries, the majority of students reported being drunk at least once.
The largest proportion of students who had been drunk 20 times or more was found in Denmark - where 36% reported this - followed by Ireland (30%), the Isle of Man (29%), the United Kingdom (27%), Estonia and Finland (26% each).
Boys were more likely to get drunk in all countries. However, in a number of countries - including Finland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom - the gender distribution was similar.
The number of students who were drunk three times or more during the previous 30 days was highest in Denmark, Ireland (26% each), the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man (23% each) and Greenland (19%). The lowest figures were reported for Turkey (1%), Cyprus (2%), Portugal, Greece, France and Romania (all less than 5%).
Overall, more boys than girls were drunk three or more times in the previous 30 days. However, in Finland, Geeenland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom, the gender distribution was similar. In the Isle of Man, more girls than boys were drunk three or more times in the previous 30 days.

Binge drinking

Binge drinking was defined as drinking five or more drinks in a row.

This behaviour was most common in Denmark (60%), the Netherlands (58%), Germany, Ireland, the Isle of Man (57% each), the United Kingdom (54%), Belgium and Malta (50% each).
The highest percentages of binge drinking three times or more during the previous 30 days were reported in Ireland (32%), Germany, the Netherlands (28% each), the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man (27% each), Malta, Poland, Sweden (25% each), Denmark and Norway (24% each). Countries with the lowest figures were Turkey (5%), Hungary (8%), France (9%), Cyprus, Greece, Iceland and Romania (11% each).

Reference

Hibell B, Andersson B, Bjarnason T, Ahlström S, Balakireva O, Kokkevi A, and Morgan M. The ESPAD Report 2003 Alcohol and Other Drug Use Among Students in 35 European Countries. Stockholm: The Swedish Council for Information on Alcohol and Other Drugs, CAN Council of Europe, Co-operation Group to Combat Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Drugs (Pompidou Group), 2004. www.sedqa.gov.mt/pdf/information/reports_intl_espad2003.pdf Accessed 12 May 2006.

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